Vancouver / Julie's Wedding

Me, Julie, and Ryan

My best friend from Austin, Julie Au (who I had a crush on in Elementary and High School) got married Saturday. Not to me, of course (I know, you're all sad about this), but to this guy named Ryan. And they're going to live happily ever after. So here's some pictures I took from the wedding, as well as just some shots of me going around Vancouver (mostly in Stanley Park). It's a beautiful city. It's too bad they didn't do anything for the Fourth.

So here's an interesting story about my trip. I walked from my hotel in downtown Vancouver (Amy hooked me up with a sweet rate) to the wedding. This consequentially made me late, and i only caught the very end of things. Then I walked back to the reception/dinner, passing, along the way, a park in which a large number of homeless people were camped. There were all sorts of protest signs about welfare. I thought it would be interesting to take some footage of it, except as soon as I pulled out my camera, this drunk homeless guy ran across the street and started harrassing me. Then as I tried to leave, he wouldn't leave me along and started pushing and shoving and kicking. He only left after we ran into some cops a few block later. On one hand, I was kind of ticked because nobody has a right to tell me what to do in a public place. I asked him, don't I have a right to come join you guys. On the other hand, I had to look at things from his eyes. Here's this "well-to-do" tourist in a suit taking video of all that he has in life. I could see how he might see me as mocking him. So I can see how his pride would have been wounded and how he'd want to fight back and assert himself.

The other interesting story is that Sunday morning I had to race back to Seattle fo my flight. U had allowed myself plenty of time, but my battery wouldn't start. Then they only had one gate open at the border crossing (I guess because it was so early) and so I had to wait for almost an hour (then they opened another gate right as I got through). Then I drove amazingly fast to Seattle and I'm shocked I didn't get a ticket. I just barely caught my flight. The really cool thing was I got back in time for church.

• Pictures
• Video (14:36)

Posted 10:15 PM | Comments (1)

Strawberry Reservoir Campout

Sunrise over Strawberry Reservoir

A bunch of guys from the neighborhood here in Provo got together to go camping in Strawberry Reservoir this weekend. It was a light campout, but good. Lots of card-playing and joke telling at night. And a good food with a little hiking in the morning. Participants included me, Mike Davis, Kyle Martin, Jared and Jake Taylor, and Patrick Marx.

Jake Jensen was supposed to come with his boat, but his truck broke down on the road up. Bummer.

• Pictures
• Video (7:52)

Posted 07:37 PM | Comments (1)

The U.S. as God in Monrovia

Hearing news reports on the situation in Monrovia today got me thinking about the perception of the U.S. there. People are getting pretty angry at the U.S., even laying dead bodies in front of the U.S. embassy to make a point of some sort. So why, I ask, are they mad at us? Especially when it's a pretty universal assumption that if we walked in with Peacekeeping troops right now, they'd worship the ground we walked on.

My thought here is that America has become a God-figure for them. First off, there seems to be feelings that (even though this a very far stretch of the truth) the U.S. is the fatherland of Liberia. So there's part one of the God-figure: America as a point of origin. Number two, as in many other parts of the world, there's an idealization of America. Like it's a perfect society that everyone should emulate. And three, they perceive American power as the ultimate power in the world. No one, in their minds, is greater than America. Therefore, who better to solve their problems; problems they are unable to solve themselves.

Therefore, them getting angry at America is akin to someone getting angry at God. America/God did nothing wrong to them. Their pain and suffering is either self-inflicted, or an unavoidable consequence of circumstance. But like someone who curses God for all his/her problems in life, Liberians are angry because this power, that has the ability to intercede and make things better, chooses not to.

Part of me suspects that this anger at an American-God figure is somewhat behind anger at America throughout the world. Such as in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. America's done very little, if anything, to deserve anger because of its role in the conflict--but that's the problem. The Arab world suspects that we could do so much more to fix things. And then, take Iraq and Afghanistan. The anger is not so much at the American way of life, but the fact that we abandoned them in their time of need. Of course, this is an over-simplification of the anger, as resentment also plays a big part. Plus, in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, it's very easy to point to many things that we've done to deserve their anger. But at any rate, I still think the anger-at-America-as-God complex is an important part.

Which leads to a very disturbing question--what good does it do to be angry at God. It's self-destructive, that's all it is. It first of all says, "I'm too lazy and/or incapable of solving my own problems, and the only person that can solve them is God, thus I won't even try to solve things." And second of all, it says, "God, my creator, that which defined my existence: since you are here every minute, taking over my life for me, I'm going to stop believing in you altogether." (Although in the case of America, maybe this sentiment is what the world needs. Maybe this disillusionment with America will empower people, like the Liberians, to take control of their own lives).

And then, there's the question--should we intervene? Well, I think that revolves around the question of how we perceive ourselves. If we truly believe we are the better society that we advertise to the world, then yes, we need to intercede. Otherwise, we will have abandoned the human race. Or at very least created a new, global class system, one which must inevitably be overthrown. The backlash will continue to grow more dangerous against us. The world will stop "believing in us," and replace us with something us, until we no longer exist. If, on the other hand, we are not a better society, then we have to stop advertising ourselves as such. And we have to get out of everywhere else in the world and turn inwards--fixing the inner-self first.

Personally, I think we need to be in Liberia, and quickly.

Posted 02:04 PM | Comments (1)

Becky's Wedding

Becky and Wayne

So some punk guy from Michigan married my sister yesterday. :) His name is Wayne, and the sister I'm talking about is Becky, aka Becca or Rebecca. I tried to warn him, but would he listen? It happened in the Washington D.C. temple, and the whole family came for it, as well as a bunch of Becky's friends and ex-roommates, who all made our house very crowded for a couple of days.

After it we had a luncheon at some Greek restaurant in downtown D.C. Good food. And then everybody left.

• Pictures
• Videos
• The Night Before (15:51)
• The Wedding Pictures (40:26)
• Luncheon (20:47)

Posted 01:53 PM | Comments (1)